Hand held magnetic induction thermography system

US7485882B2 · kind B2 · utility

Assignee

• SIEMENS ENERGY, INC. · US

Inventors

• Paul J. Zombo · Cocoa, US
• Robert E. Shannon · Oviedo, US
• Max Rothenfusser · Munich, DE
• Matthias Goldammer · Birkenfeld, DE
• Christian Homma · Vaterstetten, DE
• Joachim Baumann · Dortmund, DE

Key dates

• Filing date: Jun 15, 2006
• Grant date: Feb 3, 2009
• Expiry date: Feb 14, 2027

Classification

• Technology area (CPC G): Physics
• CPC primary: G01N25/72
• WIPO field: Measurement
• WIPO sector: Instruments

Abstract

A hand-held thermography system (8). A generator (10) supplies current to a transformer (15) in a handle (16). An induction coil (20) connected to the transformer (15) extends from the handle (16). The induction coil (20) induces eddy currents in a test object (50), producing a thermal topography on a surface (52) of the object (50) that reveals structural features including defects in the object. An infrared camera (24) mounted on the transformer (16) digitizes images of the thermal topography. A controller (12) processes the images, displays them on a monitor (14), and stores them in a digital memory (11) for evaluation. Digitized positional data relating the position of the image to the surface may also be stored. An operator (40) presses a trigger (17), signaling the controller (12) to start current to the induction coil (20) and simultaneously to acquire and process one or more images from the camera (24). The images may be evaluated visually and/or by computerized analysis techniques for analyzing defects in the object.